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SHAPIRO: Cato Scholar Comments on Court Case on Maine Internet Tobacco Regulations 

The solution, as often happens, lies in the very technology that caused the problem in the first place. Instead of placing the onus on shippers to verify age, Maine should require the tobacco vendors selling their wares online to do so. How? By employing any of the myriad age-verification software available for just these purposes. Requiring online orders to be paid for with a credit card will also have the same effect (and the issue of a minor illicitly using a parent's card is akin to that of a minor using a fake ID at a store). Thus, the carriers should technically win here through the vehicle of "federal preemption" -- and thus enable technologies freely available in the market to solve the underlying problem instead of heavy-handed regulations (federal or state).

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